There are quite often instances where the address bar has focus and I'd like to get back to the main page (so I can use arrow keys and all my Vimium shortcuts) without having to use the mouse and manually clicking somewhere on the page... (pressing Escape would be the obvious shortcut but it doesn't work)

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Have you tried using Tab?
– Digital PlaneAug 15 '11 at 9:37

Well I can do it with shift-Tab repeated four times... (I need some 30 or so 'ordinary' tabs to get back to the page as it cycles through all the extensions and then the bookmarks bar first.)
– William TurrellAug 15 '11 at 10:49

Typing "javascript:" (without quotes) and then enter will move focus back to the page. OK, so that's one solution. That's however not very nice as you would have to do a lot of typing. Now what you can do is add a new search engine with a short keyword, like "u", and set the search string to be "javascript:". Then you can type in "u" and then enter to move focus back to the page without jumping around.

It's 2014... is there really still not a "right way" of doing this on OS X Chrome?
– Max CantorAug 2 '14 at 22:36

On the bug page you linked: "Only users with EditIssue permission may comment". Woot!
– GerryJun 12 '16 at 7:38

Such a shame there's no native way of doing such a basic thing. Thanks for the workaround, it works nicely. I've assigned the javascript: search engine to the "l" (lower case L), so I can jump from Developer Tools to the page with "cmd+l l enter".
– Rangi RobinsonJun 27 '16 at 12:35

On Windows at least, I've been using F6 to switch between the URL bar and the rest of the page, also for the purpose of using Vimium. I am not sure if this works on OSX or Linux.

F6 cycles between keyboard accessible panes such as the URL bar, bookmarks, the page itself, and downloads. I generally keep downloads and bookmarks hidden, so F6 acts as a toggle. It's not nearly as clean of a solution as a dedicated "focus to the page" button would be, but I've found it workable.

Doesn't work for me on Windows 7 64 bit using Chrome 17.0.963.78 m. Where did you find out about this?
– Peter NoreMar 13 '12 at 14:26

@PeterNore Works great for me on Windows 7 64-bit, although at the moment I'm running Chromium 19.0.1043.0. I don't remember where I first read it, but I was able to find it on Google just now. Looks like it cycles between bookmarks and downloads too, but I apparently have those hidden.
– Warrior BobMar 13 '12 at 14:55

Seems to be working for me today - strange!
– Peter NoreMar 14 '12 at 16:31

Doesn't seem to work on Linux, although I can get to my bookmark bar this way.
– ZamicolMar 9 '15 at 20:35

You can overcome a lot of chrome omnibar limitations with Fauxbar extension. It allows you to open a pop-up addressbar which you can close with escape key. That is besides the fact that it uses firefox algorithm for url lookup, which is awesome and WAY more usable then what omnibar offers.